DONDENA Seminar - Cormac Ó Gráda

“Tweaking the Industrial Revolution”

SPEAKER: Cormac Ó Gráda (University College Dublin) 

ABSTRACT:

The Industrial Revolution has been overdetermined. This lecture nevertheless attempts to add something new a well-worn discussion. Its argues that it was the combination of Britain’s artisanal human capital, its relative wealth before the Industrial Revolution, and its institutions that gave it the temporary edge over other west European economies to enable it to become the first industrial nation. It also argues for a comparative approach in order to keep the focus on what factors mattered most. 


BIO:

Cormac Ó Gráda is professor emeritus at the School of Economics, University College Dublin. He has published extensively on the economic history of Ireland, on famines in Ireland and globally, and on the Industrial Revolution. His books include Ireland: A New Economic History (1994); Black ’47 and Beyond (1999); Jewish Ireland in the Age of Joyce: A Socioeconomic History (2006); Famine: A Short History (Princeton, 2009); and The Hidden Victims: Civilian Casualties of the Two World Wars (2024).